Zachary Nagel promoted to Associate Professor of Genomics and Cancer Biology

Dear Members of the Harvard Chan School Community:

Please join me in congratulating Zachary Nagel on his promotion to Associate Professor of Genomics and Cancer Biology in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Dr. Nagel’s research investigates DNA repair and why some individuals are more susceptible to DNA damage than others. He has developed a unique plasmid-based assay called fluorescence based multiplex host cell reactivation (FM-HCR) to measure DNA repair capacity (DRC) in multiple pathways in human cells. FM-HCR has been used to test for alterations in DNA repair pathways in cells exposed to nanomaterials and to determine the effectiveness and specificity of DNA repair inhibitors.

Primarily, his interests include understanding the health consequences of inter-individual differences in DRC and developing new, personalized strategies for cancer prevention and treatment based on functional profiling using newly developed tools for comprehensive multiplex DRC measurements and both mechanistic and population health studies. Dr. Nagel has undertaken research to examine whether DNA repair capacity declines with age and to identify DNA repair signatures that are associated with environmental exposures, elevated lung cancer risk, and clinical radiation sensitivity. He has also studied the impacts of cosmic ionizing radiation on flight crews using the FM-HCR assays in blood samples, showing that in-flight exposures may compromise genome integrity. Dr. Nagel has also identified alterations in DNA repair that underly acquired resistance to therapy in glioblastoma.

Dr. Nagel holds a BS from the University of Michigan and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. He completed postdoctoral training in DNA Repair at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2016, he joined the Harvard Chan School faculty as assistant professor and, since 2017, has been both a member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center’s lung and neuro-oncology programs and an associate member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

During his free time, Dr. Nagel and his partner John together enjoy nature and the arts. Both love hiking, running, kayaking, gardening, and photographing their adventures. They are also serious home cooks, devoted Michigan football fans, and engaged viewers of film, television, theater, and the visual arts.

On behalf of the School and the faculty, I congratulate Dr. Nagel on his promotion and look forward to his continued success at the Harvard Chan School.

Best wishes,

Jane J. Kim, PhD

Dean for Academic Affairs

K.T. Li Professor of Health Economics

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health